I think I can safely say that up to now, no comic with “Weapon X” in the title has been fantastic–and nearly all stories that relate to the Weapon X program are derivative and unsurprising. But now, that changes.
The Roxxon Company (who, in the future, will create Deathlok) acquire the files from the old Weapon X program and decide to build their own security force of Wolverines called “Strikeforce X” who contract with a company called Blackguard. We’re introduced to them as they slash their way through South American tribesmen to murder everyone at a clandestine meeting of a group that is hostile to Roxxon.
Meanwhile, Wolverine cuts the hand off a muger on the subway.
The tone is thus set: This will be a more violent Wolverine comic than we’re generally used to.
From there, Wolverine finds out what Roxxon is doing and decides to stop them.
Strikeforce X have powers similar to Wolverine: Adamantium skeletons, enhanced senses and strength, a healing factor supplemented by nanites, and “energy claws.”
They’re also armed with bullets that negate healing factors, making them perfect to kill Wolverine.
Of course, this is all a consipiracy. Strikeforce X were intended as bait to lure Wolverine so that they could kill him. Blackguard would then use evidence of Logan’s death as a selling point for their services, making them the most sought-after security force in the world.
While fighting his way through Strikeforce X, Wolverine also gets a reporter friend, Melita Garner, to expose Blackguards’ South American campaign to the world. She also exposes their connections to Norman Osborn’s HAMMER organization and a Senate subcommittee. Her story essentially shuts them down.
She’ll be an important enough character to tag, even though she doesn’t have powers or get them later. (I know, I know: Tagging her but not Mary Jane Watson doesn’t make sense. I agree. Someday, I’ll go back through this site and add a whole bunch of tags.)
Maverick, also a Weapon X program castoff, is working for Norman Osborn and Blackguard but by the end of the story, he kills the person who gave Roxxon the Weapon X files. He’s doing this because he feels guilty, but also because he was the source of those files–Maverick was the leak–and he’s trying to ensure nobody is alive who knows what he did.
By the end, Wolverine has killed most of Strikeforce X–but not all. We have Wolverine swearing to track down and kill those responsible for providing the Weapon X files to Roxxon and Osborn still trying to salvage the program.
English (US) · 